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Sage drifted through the kelp forest slowly, taking his time to peer around the strands of green as he moved towards the shallower water he could hunt in. It wasn't super shallow, but it was shallow enough for him to be seen if there were boats or divers and any humans were paying attention. There were a few boats he saw in the distance, but nothing too close, so after a few moments he drifted out of the cover the kelp have him, dagger in hand as he searched for crabs in the sand. It wasn't his preferred dish, but they were easier to catch than fish or shrimp, and he didn't need as many since they were a bit bigger than the sort of fish that lived in the deeper waters by him.

He'd found a few crabs after maybe half an hour, but was startled out of his thoughts when the shadow of a boat crossed past him. He started, darting to the side and away from the shadow, only to run into a net. He hissed out a curse and darted to the other side, making for the gap in the netting and cursing his own stupidity. He should have been paying more attention to the ships nearby.

Of course, the ship moved quickly, and the netting closed before he could reach the gap. He was starting to panic now, gills flaring as he spun around, pulling back as the circle around him grew smaller and smaller. He didn't see a way out of this, and it wasn't long before a fin got tangled in the netting as it cramped his space. Soon enough he was caught completely, and his thrashing around only made things worse. He stopped when he felt the netting starting to cut into his gills and skin, nose twitching at the smell of his blood in the water. He was a little worried about his gills, as the netting had caught in-between the delicate leaves of them. That was really what forced him to still, as he didn't fancy the idea of not being able to breathe if the netting hurt them any further.

Sage had stilled after a few moments of frantic thrashing around, in an attempt to calm his mind down a little bit and think of a way to get out of this whole situation. He still had his knife with him, so he angled himself with a wince to start cutting away at the net. He didn't get very far before the next started to rise though, the shift in weight pulling the fibers tighter against his skin and pressing his arms against his chest, stopping any sort of cutting movement. He growled in frustration, twisting again as the net broke the water.

He hit the deck hard, men already jumping on top of him to stop his tail from hitting any of them, or his claws from drawing anyone's blood. He was strong....much stronger than a man or two. But when like twenty of them were on top of him, he couldn't do much but lay there. He did try to fight, of course, but they quickly staunched any movement from him, so he lay there angrily, gills flaring as he tried to catch some sort of oxygen. He had lungs, but he'd never really needed to use them before, so admittedly he wasn't doing so hot, breaths coming in ragged gasps. The men sitting on his chest probably weren't helping at all.

His gaze cut to the voice of a man who's spoken up by then, announcing "it's a male ...and prime age," to an older man and a young woman who looked to be related. He hissed furiously at the men on and around him, and while some of them looked a bit nervous, they seemed to know that since he was male, his song was weak. He likely wouldn't be able to control any of them with it.

He heard something about the first man gushing about finding a male.....and something about breeding age. He scowled, not sure he liked the sound of that. Then again, he also knew these bounty hunters mainly caught females....sirens who were caught because they willingly went close to ships in an attempt to lure the men in with their songs. Males were much less common than female merfolk in general, as it was a highly matriarchal society within their villages....so he knew it was rare for bounty hunters to find a male. Let alone catch one. He was still annoyed with himself, but those emotions had given way to fear. A near blinding panic fueled on by his lack of air and the slight burn of his skin where the sun hit it. Not to mention the net was still digging into his skin. His gills.

What was going to happen to him?

Serene Blackwell, unlike the men under her father`s iron rule, found it rather amusing the more thrashing that the captured prey dared to give them; it indicated that the poor, unfortunate thing had a will to live. There were individuals out there that advocated for the supernatural, mythical beings that secretly inhabited the waters, the skies, even the earth itself. However, their voices were always drowned out by human greed: anyone would do anything for a mere scale from a mermaid`s tail, a jagged claw from a rare species of dragon, and even the fur of a long-thought extinct mammal of some kind. To her, bounty hunting was a game and it was obvious in how she approached it. Her black hair swayed gently with the ruffles of wind as she turned away from the edge of the ship, making her way over to the net that was now being pinned down by a few men; the sight was absolutely laughable.

She listened to the wisdom her father delightfully decided to share with everyone, presumably because a few men were new to this type of work and needed the knowledge. She would not be surprised if they had guessed he was some mutated merman given the dark, duller colors of his tail; someone like her new he was just a normal siren, and not even one of the stronger ones. It was when she caught his gaze that she saw the pure, unadulterated fear in his eyes. For a brief moment, she felt an odd twist of pity; no one knew that the poor woman was not truly as tough and cruel as she seemed.. Serene Blackwell merely wanted to act as a heir should to such a company. He was a prized catch though, especially since he was male and they were only sighted once in a blue moon.

``No need for all the squirming,`` her voice was gentle as she crouched down next to the net, quietly considering letting him be put in a cage instead. It would be more spacious for him and his scales wouldn`t constantly be torn into by the netting. ``I`m certain you`d rather be in a cage than a net, no?``

At this point, her father and the trainees had wandered off for who knows what. The men that were still pinning down the male siren were eyeing her as if the words she had said were completely out of character.. which they had been. She frowned and quietly ordered them to go do something productive, leaving her and the siren alone. This was the first time she felt the need to be a little.. nice. Usually, she`d do as she pleased, but there was just something about that look on his face.

(I`m back, :D)

(welcome back xD)

Sage barely heard the comments that came from the young woman as she knelt beside his head. He was, for good reason, more focused on the men holding him down. The net that was burning the fragile lines of his gills, trickles of blood appearing along the fine lines there. He was bleeding in other places too, but his gills were important.....if he couldn't breathe in the water because they were injured, he was pretty well screwed. And it didn't take much to injured them.

When he felt the weight lift off of him for the most part though, he froze, not entirely sure what was happening. Only the young woman remained, and he briefly considered just whacking her with his tail and rolling overboard, but he was still under the net, and the railing of the ship was too far away. So, he let his gaze focus on her, curiosity filling his gaze. He was still scared, but he was curious about her. Why she seemed different than the rest of them. Not nice, but....not cruel needlessly either.

"What's the difference," he grumbled after a moment, chest still heaving as he tried to calm down enough to figure out how to actually use his lungs properly. He tried to shift so he could free an arm, reaching up with a wince to finger the netting tangled along his gills, doing his best to try and release at least those.

He managed to get one side of his gills out in a minute or two, but reaching around his body to try and get to the other set was proving to be more difficult. It was harder to reach with the hand he'd managed to free, and moving too much made other parts of the net tighter. So he gave up with a small breath after a moment, having exhausted himself trying to escape the men before hand.

``For starters, your gills wouldn`t be ensnared,`` Serene replied evenly to his words, finding them almost comical given his situation. She knew enough about his kind that breathing on land wasn`t the easiest task while being in this form; if anything, he probably felt out of breath and a little delirious because of it. A frown shifted onto her face as she realized her suspicions were correct, based off of how he was wriggling in the net to reposition himself. Serene straightened herself so that she was now standing, green eyes shining with the tiniest bit of concern; she was telling herself it was because he was the most precious cargo they had on the ship at the moment. ``You also would have more room and the cages are in a darker area of the ship.``

Being no stranger to all the fun facts about merfolk, she knew what they preferred and what they disliked, so of course she knew how she could be a little.. kind towards the creature. Her arms folded across her chest as she allowed her gaze to drift, catching the cold stare of her father. He was probably wondering what she was doing, which he had a fair reason to do so- even to her: she was talking with the siren, for starters, which was something she was not really supposed to do. Instead of smiling and going off to do something else like he expected her to do, she focused on the siren again. Crouching down once more, she reached out and shifted the net a little so it wasn`t digging into his scales as much.

``Now, would you want the cage or want to remain up here in the scorching sun?`` Serene asked, raising a knowing brow. If he said he wanted to stay updeck, she`d be dumbfounded at the very least. She was trying to make this easier for him, even if she had no reason to do so. Over the past few years, she had seen some scarring things that bounty hunters had done to creatures, but for some reason.. this specific siren was making her feel a little guilty, as if it felt wrong to have scooped him up from where he belonged using a suffocating net. ``It`s completely up to you.``

As she waited for him to respond, she decided to glance over at her father again. Fortunately, he was distracted by the new bounty hunters once more. The last thing she really needed was to get scolded.. in front of the whole crew, as he tended to enjoy doing for no reason whatsoever.

Sage had thrown a glare in the girls direction when she meened amused that his gills had gotten caught up with the net. He hadn't expected anything better, but she could at least have tried to keep the amusement out of her voice. It was almost mocking, they way she was talking. Picking the cage felt like picking the option that would ensnare him in a tank like some sort of kid's pet goldfish, likely for the rest of his life. He didn't want to make that option. To say it out loud.

But even now, he could feel the sun starting to burn. And the net was hurting him. So .. he weighed his options carefully. He cast a glance towards the railing, judging how easily he'd be able to break free of the men and dive overboard, when they took the net off to move him. The distance would likely be too far though.....they were, admittedly, good at their job. It made him wonder how many other merfolk they'd captured and forced into a life of submission in a cage. How many they'd killed. He wondered if that would be his own fate. He wondered what he'd prefer.

"Fine," he sighed after a moment. "Just get me out of the sun." It would get his point across, but he could still tell himself he wasnt choosing the cage. He would fight, all he could. But he wouldn't last long in the sun, or the heat. He was used to deeper waters with less light and cooler temperatures. Less noise. It sort of felt like his brain was overworking itself taking it all in.

He did take a moment to take a better look around the ship though. The man he'd heard yelling before was clearly in charge - and quite a few men were young. They looked naive....or at least new to the ship, so maybe if he targeted them when he moved, he would have a better chance of escape. That seemed like his best option, so he stayed still for now, saving the little energy he had left for his last attempt.